Page 101 of Greed
No. She wasn’t at risk. Her very nature prohibited him from reaching that level of insanity… he hoped.
He needed to see Lilo with an urgency that had his eyes watering, so he strode immediately to her desk. She wasn’t there.
It’s fine. She’s probably out at the bakery.
Forcing his insecurities away, he went to the break room and made their coffees, all the while counting in his head. When he’d sufficiently calmed his nerves, he returned to her desk station.
Still empty.
No.
A chill ran up his spine with the force of an avalanche. Why wouldn’t she be there? He put the steaming mugs on her desk and surveyed the room. Everyone else seemed to be at their desks. Her bag hung on the back of her chair.Not at the bakery then.She wouldn’t leave without her bag. Her computer was on the lock screen meaning she’d been gone long enough for her account to lapse.
Bev lifted her head to watched him curiously.
“Good morning, Bev,” he said. “Do you know where Lilo has gone?”
The woman glanced at the mugs and back up to him. “Well, aren’t you a darling.”
“Lilo?”
“She’s gone to meet Donnie. Shouldn’t be long.” She sat and returned to her screen as though her words hadn’t pierced a hole in Griffin’s heart.
Everything inside him roared.
His power magnified and surged, escalating and filling him to the brink until it he almost exploded. Metal in the room rattled, computer screens blanked. He looked around wildly, just in case Bev was wrong and Lilo was somewhere close, but the walls closed in. More computers blanked. The lights above their heads flickered.
Focus, Griffin.Don’t lose it. Not yet.
“How long ago did she leave?” he asked through a dry throat.
“About half an hour.” Bev turned back around. “Is everything okay?”
“Did she say where she was meeting him?”
“No. What’s happened?”
He didn’t respond. He was gone, back to his office where he scooped up his backpack and then jogged to Doppenger’s office for a glance inside. Empty.
Griffin went to the ground floor and stopped at the security room. Two white-uniformed men were sitting in chairs, lazily watching the wall of monitors in front of them. Littered on their desks were half empty packets of food and greasy fingerprint covered soda cans.
He banged on the doorframe. “I need you to look up some specific footage from the Cardinal Copy.”
The men turned his way, frowning. The younger one had a mustache. His name badge saidP.Evernty.Evernty the Everlong Mustache. The second man was olive skinned, had a body mass index of about twenty-eight, and nibbled a donut. Griffin couldn’t read his name badge because a smear of chocolate icing covered it. This one lifted an eyebrow at Griffin’s interruption.
“Uh. Buddy,” the overweight man said. “I don’t know what workplace you’re used to, but we don’t just let any old Tom, Dick or Harry barge in here to—”
“We don’t have time,” Griffin cut him off. “A woman has gone missing.” And if they’d been doing their job, they might have seen something.
They stared back at him with vacant expressions.
Anger surged through his veins, and the monitors flickered in the room. The disruption was enough to snap the men out of their stupor. Evernty waved him over, but the closer Griffin got to the monitors, the more they flickered and blanked out. He had to step back.
“What floor?” Evernty asked, tapping his monitor until the flickering stopped.
“Fourth floor,” he answered. “Search the area of the office space for the journalists. Rewind to about half an hour ago. Her desk is the second on the right next to the break room. Lilo Likeke. Tall with brown hair.”
“Miss Likeke’s gone missing?” the overweight man said, looking devastated. “She was just in here an hour ago, giving us the donuts.”
